Binding fuel material



Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES THEODORE NAGEL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

BINDING FUEL MATERIAL.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE NAGEL, a citizen of the United States,'residing at New a York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Binding Fuel Materials; and I do hereby declare the fol-. lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to binding fuel materials for agglomerating finely divided ma terials and to the process of producing the same, and has for its object to provide a binder fuel which will be comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and more eflicient in use than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists in the novel binder constituting the product and in the novel steps and combinations of steps constituting the process, all as will be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

This application constitutes a continuation in part of my copending application, Serial No. 610,369, filed January 2, 1923, and entitled Artificial fuel and method of making the same.

In order that the invention may be the more clearly understood it is said: It is well known that a large 'number of different substances have been heretofore brought to a finely divided condition mixed with a binding material and then subjected to pressure and heat in order to agglomerate the same or to form briquettes t erefrom. But it is also well known that the "binding materials '40 with which the finely divided particles are bound together are very far from satisfactory. Among the recognized disadvantages that pertain to these said binding materials may be mentioned the fact that many of them will soften under a temperature sufiicient to burn briquetted coal, for example, and thus permit the briquettes to flow or soften and stop off the draft passing through the burning mass. In other cases, the binding material will soften under ordinary weather conditions such as soaking rains, and permit the agglomerates to disintegrate into the original finely divided material. Other objections pertaining to the binding materials heretofore produced are found in the fact briquette one 'lasses and phosphoric acid constituting the Application filed April 21, 1923. Serial No. 633,807.

that some of these binding materials give off unpleasant odors and smoke, some of them are too expensive to manufacture or the material or materials forming the binder are too scarce on the market to render them commerciall feasible and somev of the prior binders urn out from the briquettes before the coal particles are consumed and thus permit said particles to fall through the grates unburned with theashes. There are other objections to prior binders which are well recognized by those skilled in this art, but it is not necessary to mention them.

It is the object of this invention, more specifically stated, to avoid all the foregoing objections and to produce a binding fuel material which is free therefrom, as will now be disclosed.

The carrying out of this invention may be best illustrated by describing the manufacture of an anthracite coal briquette employing this said binder. In making such a may proceed as follows: The coal may be used in a finelysubdivided con-' dition as usual. One may take say 100 parts by weight of this 'finely divided coal and thoroughly mix therewith in any suitable manner, say, about 7% parts of black strap molasses, the well known by-product of the sugar industry, and about 1 parts of phosphoric acid, l-I PO It is best to mm the black strap molasses and phosphoric acid together to form the binder before applying to the coal. The mass thus produced consisting of the finely divided coal and binder made the subject of this applicatlon is or may be next subjected to the pressure usually employed in the makmg of briquettes, and thereafter heated to a temperature which may not in some cases exceed, say, 400 F. and should not ordinarily exceed, say, about 800 F., and then cooled. The resulting briquettes are found to possess a water-insoluble, dense, hard, strong structure that burns without emitting smoke or odors, nor do said briquettes disintegrate, soften, 01'. flow while burning, as do many of theprior briquettes heretofore proposed.

That is, the mixture of black strap mobinder fuel under the influence of heat, will be found to have been converted into a hard, strong, tenacious, and water-insoluble material that does not run or fuse at the temperature of burning, andtherefore it serves 110 on other carbonaceous fuels, or in fact on' finely divided materials in general, as above intimated. L

I am unable to give a satisfactory scientific explanation of the exact chemical changes that take place in the binder under the influence of heat, but it is possible, and in my opinion also plausible, that since the orthophosphoric acid, H,PO,, is first converted to the pyro form, H 110 and finally to the meta form H1 0 under the influence of heat, in accordance with the well known behavior of these compounds when heated,

one or more of these acids probably react with the constituents of the black strap molasses or with the constituents of the coal, or with both, to form hard, tenacious, waterinsoluble compounds therewith. Itis more probable, however, that the constituents of the black strap molasses with the acids play the important part because when metallic particles are agglomerated the hard binding action takes place apparently about as well as it does with the coal. Whatever may be the true explanation, actual tests have abundantly shown that the finished product of agglomerated material possesses the surprising and valuable properties above Inentioned, due entirely to the peculiar nature of this novel binding material which also has the property of sticking tenaciously to and binding together any finely divided material with which I am acquainted. Further, this said mixture of black strap molasses and phosphoric acid being water-soluble, and therefore capable of being easily applied to form a temporary binder for masses of finely divided materials in general, it is exceedingly useful in the art, because its temporary binding qualities impart sufiicient toughness to the green briquettes for handling through the subsequent steps of processing the same. On the other hand, as soon as a temperature of from, say, 400 F. to 800 F. or higher is imparted to this said binding material, the cool product is found to be unusually dense, hard, and strong, so that this said binder seems to constitute an ideal product for this purpose. The binder, however, need not be made with the proportions above given, nor subjected to the temperatures stated. In fact, I have found that instead of using by weight 7 5% of black strap molasses, as in the ex ample for anthracite coal, I may use for example quantities varying between, say, 3%

and 15%, on various coals. And instead of using'1 H,PO,, I may use quantities varying between, say, of 1% and 5%. When briquetting other materials such as flue dust, finely divided ores in general, I use varying quantities of the binding material according to the nature of the material being briquetted. Further, the temperatures employed will likewise vary according to the use to which the briquetted material is to be subjected. In the case of carbonaceous materials in general, it is not necessary to exceed say 1000 F., and often not necessary to exceed say 400 F.

It will now be clear from the foregoing that I have disclosed a process and a prod- ,uct which provides a binder fuel for agglomerating finely divided substances in general that possesses the following qualities, all of which qualities no single prior binder pos: sesses, to my knowledge. That is, the binder formed is hard, tough, and sufiiciently Water-insoluble to resist softening due to all influences of weather conditions; it does not soften at the temperature of burning of anthracite coal, it emits no smoke or odor, and it does not materially add to the ash content of the coal. This binder does not burn out from the briquette before the coal particles are consumed, which otherwise would permit unburned fuel particles to fall through the grates with the ashes By water insoluble I mean such an insolubility of the hinder as will prevent it from softening to an undesirable degree when subjected to rain storms, or other atmospheric conditions. The raw material used in making the binder can be produced in unlimited quantities so that the supply and the cost of the binder will not be materially disturbed by this new industrial application. Further, it is not necessary to use commercially pure phosphoric acid, for I have found that a very crude and comparatively inexpensive phosphoric acid which is produced by merely treating phosphate rock with sulphuric acid without refining can be employed in the production of this binder. I further find that instead of black strap molasses I may use any saccharine material such as beet sugar residue, etc., in making the binder.

It will likewise be observed that the proportion of combined phosphorus to organic carbonizable material will vary with different substances to be briquetted, and the uses to which they "are to be put, but in general such proportions will always include sufiicient combined phosphorus to cause the mixture containing sald. organic material to develop under the influence of heat the said hard and water-insoluble qualities above mentioned.

This invention difl'ers from my copending application of even date herewith, Serial No. 633,805, entitled Agglomerated finely ,the same, in that it is limited to t e binder itself as is indicated by the claims.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of the procedure, as well as of the product, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore I do not wish to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

\Vhat is claimed is:

1. The process of making a binding fuel material for agglomerating finely divided substances, which is capable of hardening and becoming water-insoluble when heated, which consists in mixing an organic compound with combined phosphorus in such proportions that upon heating said mixture it will form a hard water-insoluble binder.

2. The process of making a binding fuel material for agglomerating finely divided substances which is capable of hardening when heated, which consists in mixing a saccharin material with phosphoric acid in such proportions that a hard water-insoluble material will be formed upon heating said mixture to a temperature above 400 F.

3. The process of making a binding fuel material for agglomerating finely divided substances which is capable of hardening and becoming water-insoluble when heated which consists in mixing a saccharine material with combined phosphorus in' such proportions that when applied to finely divided substances and the latter compressed and heated above 400 F. the agglomerate is rendered hard and water-insoluble.

4. The process of making a binding fuel material for agglomerating finely divided substances which is capable of hardening and becoming water-insoluble when heated, which consists in mixing black strap molasses and phosphoric acid in such proportions that upon heating said mixture above 400 F. it will form a hard water-insoluble binder.

5. The process of making a binding fuel material for agglomerating finely divided substances which is capable of hardening and becoming water-insoluble when heated, which consists in mixing black strap molasses and phosphoric acid in the proportions of from 3 to 15 parts by weight of black strap molasses and from to 5 parts by weight of phosphoric acid whereby upon heating said mixture above 400 F. it will form a hard water-insoluble binder.

6. The herein described new binding fuel material consisting of a mixture of an adhesive organic compound and combined phosphorus in such proportions that when said mixture is heated it will be converted into a hard, water-insoluble binder.

7 The herein described new binding fuel material consisting of an organic compound containing a saccharine material with phosphoric acid in such proportions that there is produced a binding mixture which after heating is converted into a hard, water-in-. soluble binder.

8. The herein described new binding fuel material consisting of black strap molasses and phosphoric acid in such proportions that there is produced a binding mixture which after heating 'is converted into a hard, water-insoluble binder.

9. The herein described new binding fuel material consisting of black strap molasses and phosphoric acid in the proportions by weight of from 3 to 15 parts of black strap molasses and from g to 5 parts of phosphoric acid, whereby there is formed a binding mixture which after heating is converted intoa hard, water-insoluble binding compound.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

THEODORE NAGEL. 

